


What Goes Bump in the Night

by Tiny_Cryptid



Category: Half-Life
Genre: Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Nightmares, Pre-Relationship, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:27:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27839113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiny_Cryptid/pseuds/Tiny_Cryptid
Summary: It's strange how quickly your perspective on someone can change when you see them with their walls down.
Relationships: Benrey/Gordon Freeman
Comments: 18
Kudos: 131





	What Goes Bump in the Night

**Author's Note:**

> This whole thing might be really sloppy and out of character but I wrote it for me and that's what matters. Also I put Benrey's dialogue in lowercase bc it felt right but it also hurts cause it reminds me of the one week in junior high when I kinned dave strider.

Gordon had always been a particularly light sleeper. Whenever he wasn't completely passed out from exhaustion, even the tiniest of sounds could easily wake him. At home, he'd found it extremely inconvenient, especially when he had work in the morning and kept getting startled awake by passing cars. But in the bowels of Black Mesa, running for his life from aliens and the military and whatever else, it was turning out to be much more of a blessing than it used to be.

It was no surprise, then, that when a solid, metallic _THUNK_ echoed across the room, Gordon was up like a shot, readying his new (quite literal) firearm against the potential threat.

However, when his thrice-over scan of the science team's current sleeping quarters turned up no sign of danger, he sagged heavily against the nearest wall, rubbing his remaining hand across his eyes. Maybe he had finally snapped without realizing and was just hearing things. Gordon figured it wouldn't be the worst thing to have happened to him in the godforsaken pit that used to be his workplace.

He was just about ready to chalk it up to mental instability and go back to sleep when-

_THUNK._

Gordon's head snapped over to the other side of the room. His eyes settled on Benrey, who was rolling from side to side on the ground, arms crossed tight against his chest. His leg struck out behind him, reinforced sole slamming heavily against the concrete wall.

_THUNK._

Well, that explained the noise.

"Benrey, what the hell do you think you're doing?" He hissed sharply, minding the rest of the science team (not that anything short of nuclear warfare breaking out in that very room could've woken them, but still). His usual annoyance towards the almost-definitely-not-human security guard dulled slightly when he received no response.

"...Benrey?" He tried, a smidge louder. Still nothing. Gordon walked across the room as quietly as he could—which wasn't very, considering the HEV suit—and kneeled in front of Benrey, shaking him slightly.

"Ben-" Gordon was quickly cut off as a clawed hand wrapped around his wrist. Benrey shot bolt upright, shrieking out a line of black sweet voice, followed closely behind by a dark reddish-brown.

A few of the orbs hit Gordon square in the face, and before he could sputter or complain, he was struck to the core with a deep and desperate _terror._ He didn't register Benrey's hand letting go of his wrist, or the soft yet frantic apologies that came soon after. All he could focus on was the horrible sensation of fear that was not his own, coursing through him and turning his blood to ice.

After a few mere moments that felt like an age, Gordon was able to resurface, reminding himself that _Benrey_ of all people was feeling that fear. Were he in a better mood, and had the situation leading up to it not been so awful for both parties, Gordon might've quipped to himself that he hadn't known Benrey could feel anything but smug satisfaction at successfully getting under his skin.

Instead, he focused back in on the matter at hand. Benrey was fidgeting with his hands, and was making a concerted effort to look at anything but Gordon, which was rather impressive considering he had eyes appearing and disappearing at random across the top half of his face.

"...so fucking sorry dude that was major sucks of me i know i promise it was an accident please say something-" Benrey fell silent as Gordon rested his hand on his shoulder, but still refused to make eye contact.

"Benrey, I'm fine." He assured, using a tone of voice that brooked no argument. Then, after a moment of consideration, he added, "are you?"

The definitely-not-human security guard visibly tensed. Yep, there it was. The kind of terror Gordon had felt didn't come from any old nightmare. He was a little nervous to imagine what could have scared an entity like Benrey to the point of having night terrors about it.

"uhh, yep. totally. never been better. why, uhhh, why do you ask?" He rambles on, clearly attempting to convince Gordon and himself in equal measure.

Gordon sighs, readjusting his grip on Benrey's arm. "I won't make you talk about it if you don't want to. But if you ever do…" he pauses, then shakes his head. "You can always come to me, man. I won't judge."

Benrey's rapidly shifting eyes had seemed to settle on four, all of which turned to look up at him for a split second before shooting back towards the ground.

"don't worry about it man. was just some old childhood stuff. bad memories n shit." He settled back against the wall, flashing Gordon a lopsided grin. "thanks though. means a lot."

"Anytime." He replied, and was a bit shocked to realize he meant it.

"you should probably go back to sleep. you guys need, like, what? eight hours? sounds like bullshit to me, but whatever."

Gordon gave him an odd look. "Aren't you going back to sleep too?"

"nah." Benrey stated simply. Too tired to ask for elaboration that he knew he wouldn't get, Gordon simply shrugged and tucked himself into the corner.

"Goodnight, Benrey."

"night, gordon."

He was out before he could process that Benrey had said his name.

**Author's Note:**

> (Charcoal to mahogany means "please don't hurt me" >;3c)
> 
> Congrats if you made it to the end! I might fix this up a bit when I'm more coherent. Or I might not do that! Who knows.
> 
> You know the drill by now, yeah? Comments, kudos, all of that good stuff.
> 
> I may also add a second chapter if enough people want that. We'll see ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


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